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Hurling - more realistic contenders than football?

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I know it is early in the year, but in my view, hurling now has more realistic contenders than football. I might not be much of a football fan, but seeing Dublin hammer Mayo at the weekend, I know it is early but for me bar maybe Tyrone and Kerry, there are very few other contenders who could beat Dublin. Hurling on the other hand, has a fair few counties who would fancy their chances of beating current champions Tipp. Kilkenny, Clare, Waterford, while the likes of Wexford, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Dublin would fancy giving Tipp a game of it at least, especially later in the summer. How times have changed, it is not so long ago that people were dubbing hurling boring and predictable! Pinkie (Wexford) - Posts: 4100 - 06/03/2017 15:34:12 1964645 Link
Replying To Pinkie: "I know it is early in the year, but in my view, hurling now has more realistic contenders than football. I might not be much of a football fan, but seeing Dublin hammer Mayo at the weekend, I know it is early but for me bar maybe Tyrone and Kerry, there are very few other contenders who could beat Dublin. Hurling on the other hand, has a fair few counties who would fancy their chances of beating current champions Tipp. Kilkenny, Clare, Waterford, while the likes of Wexford, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Dublin would fancy giving Tipp a game of it at least, especially later in the summer. How times have changed, it is not so long ago that people were dubbing hurling boring and predictable!" Yeah hurling has more realistic contenders right now, simply because Dublin are very dominant right now. Mayo shouldn't be discounted though, bookies still have them 3rd favourite and rightly so. Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4208 - 06/03/2017 16:44:35 1964692 Link
football: theres not much in it.....dublin obviously miles ahead......chasing pack mayo kerry tyrone maybe.....and yes of course id still have mayo there...the mayo team you saw on saturday wont be the same mayo team youll see in the summer... hurling: tipp kilkenny waterford galway clare maybe... i dont put limerick wexford dublin cork anywhere near the top 5 i mentioned when it comes to championship hurling. juniorjudge (Waterford) - Posts: 383 - 06/03/2017 17:21:36 1964711 Link
After watching tipp hurlers yesterday, I would put them on par wtih Dublin in winning chances in Football. So in terms of chances of winning Dublin=Tipp Kerry=Kilkenny Mayo=Waterford Tyrone=Galway Do Clare, Wexford, Dublin Cork and Limreick have a better chance of winning Liam than any other county has of winning Sam? I think so. ZUL10 (Clare) - Posts: 693 - 06/03/2017 17:35:28 1964716 Link
Hurling has 5 contenders to Football's 1 which is a shocking fact when you consider the spread of the two games across the country KYTotalFootball (Kerry) - Posts: 280 - 06/03/2017 17:48:45 1964725 Link
Replying To ZUL10: "After watching tipp hurlers yesterday, I would put them on par wtih Dublin in winning chances in Football. So in terms of chances of winning Dublin=Tipp Kerry=Kilkenny Mayo=Waterford Tyrone=Galway Do Clare, Wexford, Dublin Cork and Limreick have a better chance of winning Liam than any other county has of winning Sam? I think so." Galway for me are right up there as favourites for Liam. Last two years only one point in it between Tipp and Galway. I'd actually have Tipp/KK as joint second favourites with Waterford right on the tails. If I'm to be honest I think there is a gap between the rest and the top four. therealtmo (Tipperary) - Posts: 1292 - 06/03/2017 18:07:56 1964734 Link
There are only about 4 or 5 contenders in hurling.Football has one all time great team who are making everyone else look worse than they are. When Hurling had an all time great team in Kikenny a in the 00's it was short of contenders as well, that's what happens in sport when the standard is risen it makes it more difficult to compete.If the standard at the top is not quite as high it makes it easier for teams to compete. Personally I think Dublin will win the all Ireland again this year and go down as the second best team of all time with a chance for being the greatest of all time in 2018.However you never know and they were caught out in 2014 by Donegal so who know what could happen, I would write Mayo off yet as we have no idea how good they will be until they get all their players back and decide what they are going to do with Aidan O'Shea. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 06/03/2017 18:10:06 1964736 Link
Replying To uibhfhaili1986: "There are only about 4 or 5 contenders in hurling.Football has one all time great team who are making everyone else look worse than they are. When Hurling had an all time great team in Kikenny a in the 00's it was short of contenders as well, that's what happens in sport when the standard is risen it makes it more difficult to compete.If the standard at the top is not quite as high it makes it easier for teams to compete. Personally I think Dublin will win the all Ireland again this year and go down as the second best team of all time with a chance for being the greatest of all time in 2018.However you never know and they were caught out in 2014 by Donegal so who know what could happen, I would write Mayo off yet as we have no idea how good they will be until they get all their players back and decide what they are going to do with Aidan O'Shea." So if " Hurling had an all time great team in Kikenny a in the 00's " What did hurling have when Kilkenny won the 2011, 2012, 2014 & 2015 All-Irelands? Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2447 - 06/03/2017 18:22:03 1964740 Link
The number of realistic contenders will vary, in both hurling and football, from year to year. But, here are some interesting stats. The number of different counties to have won the All-Ireland: Over the last ten years: Hurling 3 - Football 5. Over the last twenty years: Hurling 5 - Football 8 Over the last thirty years: Hurling 8 - Football 10 Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2447 - 06/03/2017 18:41:31 1964749 Link
Replying To KYTotalFootball: "Hurling has 5 contenders to Football's 1 which is a shocking fact when you consider the spread of the two games across the country" That's a pretty gloomy view on football in my opinion! It's far more conceivable that some team will emerge to beat Dublin this year than it was to imagine any team a few years ago getting close to Kilkenny when they were in their pomp. PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1902 - 06/03/2017 18:42:51 1964750 Link
Replying To Cockney_Cat: "So if " Hurling had an all time great team in Kikenny a in the 00's " What did hurling have when Kilkenny won the 2011, 2012, 2014 & 2015 All-Irelands?" In fairness I don't think anyone would argue the team from the 10's were as good as the 4 in a row team.Great team but the gap between them and the rest wasn't as big. uibhfhaili1986 (Offaly) - Posts: 1296 - 06/03/2017 19:07:42 1964763 Link
Replying To uibhfhaili1986: "In fairness I don't think anyone would argue the team from the 10's were as good as the 4 in a row team.Great team but the gap between them and the rest wasn't as big." Fair point. But the gap between the Kilkenny teams and the rest can be looked at in two ways; the quality of the KK teams and the quality of the opposition. It could be agued that the KK teams of the '10s' were superior to the ones of the 'Noughties' because the opposition were stronger. Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2447 - 06/03/2017 19:35:34 1964776 Link
You could turn this argument on the head and say. It shows how the standards of hurling have fallen that there is no exceptional team. Or worse there are only 6 teams (at a push) that play hurling to a decent standard in the whole country! This thread is twisted way of implicitly saying "hurling is fine as it is, we don't need to change, we have nothing to fear from football". gormdubhgorm (Dublin) - Posts: 990 - 06/03/2017 20:55:10 1964813 Link
I think we are moving to a more competitive hurling landscape, but its still pretty restricted in comparison to football. Yeah, teams will fear Tipp alot less than Kilkenny in their pomp, or Dublin footballers now. But if you look at the championship as a whole, hurling is still very far behind football in terms of competitiveness. While Tipp are probably less likely to win the hurling AI than Dublin the football, that seems like a narrow metric. There are still a far wider array of contenders for the 4 football semi-final places, than there are for the hurling semi's (although I'd be happy to be proved wrong). Marlon_JD (Tipperary) - Posts: 1823 - 06/03/2017 21:18:56 1964821 Link
Replying To Marlon_JD: "I think we are moving to a more competitive hurling landscape, but its still pretty restricted in comparison to football. Yeah, teams will fear Tipp alot less than Kilkenny in their pomp, or Dublin footballers now. But if you look at the championship as a whole, hurling is still very far behind football in terms of competitiveness. While Tipp are probably less likely to win the hurling AI than Dublin the football, that seems like a narrow metric. There are still a far wider array of contenders for the 4 football semi-final places, than there are for the hurling semi's (although I'd be happy to be proved wrong)." Most intelligent synopsis of an argument that normally brings out the worst in diehards , congrats Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 06/03/2017 21:31:31 1964829 Link
Dublin=Tipp Kerry=Kilkenny Mayo=Galway Tyrone=Waterford keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 06/03/2017 23:54:32 1964881 Link
yes there are at present,but since day 0 in the GAA in each season there has been max 3-4-5 realistic contenders in either game. this is no different,the gaa goes in cycles,the big fear i have is now money is talking and financial clout is huge for dublin,to me this imbalance needs to be looked at. perfect10 (Wexford) - Posts: 3929 - 07/03/2017 10:44:23 1964936 Link
Replying To perfect10: "yes there are at present,but since day 0 in the GAA in each season there has been max 3-4-5 realistic contenders in either game. this is no different,the gaa goes in cycles,the big fear i have is now money is talking and financial clout is huge for dublin,to me this imbalance needs to be looked at." hey lets start a thread about that Dory that's never been done before , hey lets start a thread about that Dory that's never been done before , hey lets start a thread about that Dory that's never been done before , hey lets start a thread about that Dory that's never been done before , hey lets start a thread about that Dory that's never been done before , Damothedub (Dublin) - Posts: 5193 - 07/03/2017 10:55:11 1964941 Link
Replying To perfect10: "yes there are at present,but since day 0 in the GAA in each season there has been max 3-4-5 realistic contenders in either game. this is no different,the gaa goes in cycles,the big fear i have is now money is talking and financial clout is huge for dublin,to me this imbalance needs to be looked at." Cyclic is correct and wrt hurling there's been several decades where either one or two teams have dominated the AI winners charts, mostly Cork, Tipp and Kilkenny barring the 90's where we'd as big of spread of AI's as there's ever been. Are we entering another decade like the 90's, possibly, but not certain. Tipp are currently the dominant force, but will they show the hunger to sustain it like the great KK team(s) of the last 15 years? Who knows. KK are on the wane, but will still be a force and that won't change soon. Teams and hurlers like they'd have at their disposal for the last while only come round once every blue moon. Cork are weak, but still can have a championship hoodoo over some of their Munster neighbours like Limerick, Clare and Waterford and can still spring a surprise, but not enough to win an AI for the next few years. Galway, Galway, Galway, well they're Galway, fantastically talented hurlers in their ranks, with the rest of Ireland dearly wanting them to win an AI, but coming up painfully short. Donoghue needs another big year from them and needs a few more leaders with cool heads on the field when the game is in the mix. Waterford are a coming team, a few U21 AI's in their pockets and don't seem to fear Kilkenny, but Tipp seem to have the upper hand on them and they need to sort that out before they'll lift a Liam McCarthy. Decision making from some of their top players needs to improve. Clare, winners in 2013, a load of U21 titles in their midst too, ball winners lacking in the forwards but silky enough hurlers who need to get back to Croke Park for a semi-final before you'd have any hope of them doing anything. If they can negotiate their way out of Munster and the qualifiers I think they've a chance of doing something thereafter. Don't ask me why though. Limerick. Have fallen back since they scared the shít out of Kilkenny on a sodden semi-final in Croke Park. Young blood also in the ranks, but can capitulate in a manner that beggars belief, now in the second tier of hurling and also rans. Wexford. Still a fair bit off the pace come July/August time, but in Conor McDonald have a marquee forward to rival Callanan of Tipp and that masks some of the other issues they have. The underage talent conveyor belt will need to mine a few more talented hurlers before they are serious contenders. Dubs. Cunningham has went with youth and they're league competitive at the minute, but will probably still get relegated. Could be a chastening summer for them if they can't kick on like some of the others seem to be able to do. Here's hoping for a competitive few years in the hurling from the get go as in the last few years it only heated up in the 1/4 finals and beyond. bricktop (Down) - Posts: 2503 - 07/03/2017 11:43:56 1964966 Link
Replying To Pinkie: "I know it is early in the year, but in my view, hurling now has more realistic contenders than football. I might not be much of a football fan, but seeing Dublin hammer Mayo at the weekend, I know it is early but for me bar maybe Tyrone and Kerry, there are very few other contenders who could beat Dublin. Hurling on the other hand, has a fair few counties who would fancy their chances of beating current champions Tipp. Kilkenny, Clare, Waterford, while the likes of Wexford, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Dublin would fancy giving Tipp a game of it at least, especially later in the summer. How times have changed, it is not so long ago that people were dubbing hurling boring and predictable!" Who are you trying to convince ?? us, or yourself :) Its tipp and Kilkenny, Potentially Waterford as rank outsiders who will win Liam. In football any one of Dublin, Kerry or Mayo will win sam. Its about even, 3 realistic teams in each code in my view. After that you're straw clutching. waynoI (Dublin) - Posts: 13650 - 07/03/2017 11:53:48 1964973 Link